Team lost 83 percent of its scoring from last year

Published: Monday, November 26, 2012 at 10:00 PM.

TRENTON — Only once before in her now 27 years as Jones Senior’s girls basketball coach has Debbie Philyaw opened a season after losing so much from the year before.

Still, Philyaw’s approach to a year that begins tonight at Spring Creek after losing 83 percent (39.2 points per game) of its scoring from a year ago is the same as the 26 before it.

The Trojans may have lost six seniors and captains from a team that went 21-3, won the Coastal Plains 1A conference regular season and tournament titles and reached the third round of the state playoffs a season ago, but that isn’t keeping Philyaw from using the same coaching and teaching points she’s used her entire career in Trenton.

At the same time, she doesn’t deny the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We lost a lot of valuable experience. The kids that made this basketball team this year has got some big shoes to fill,” Philyaw said.

“I (had a similar season to this one) one other year — and it’s been quite a few years back, I can’t tell you the year. … We’ve had four successful years. I’ve really got spoiled with the kids that left me.”

TRENTON — Only once before in her now 27 years as Jones Senior’s girls basketball coach has Debbie Philyaw opened a season after losing so much from the year before.

Still, Philyaw’s approach to a year that begins tonight at Spring Creek after losing 83 percent (39.2 points per game) of its scoring from a year ago is the same as the 26 before it.

The Trojans may have lost six seniors and captains from a team that went 21-3, won the Coastal Plains 1A conference regular season and tournament titles and reached the third round of the state playoffs a season ago, but that isn’t keeping Philyaw from using the same coaching and teaching points she’s used her entire career in Trenton.

At the same time, she doesn’t deny the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We lost a lot of valuable experience. The kids that made this basketball team this year has got some big shoes to fill,” Philyaw said.

“I (had a similar season to this one) one other year — and it’s been quite a few years back, I can’t tell you the year. … We’ve had four successful years. I’ve really got spoiled with the kids that left me.”

In the four-year careers of Travonda Haddock, China Marshall, Jasmine Bender, Madelyne Philyaw, Shakia Boomer and Brittany Daniels, the Trojans went 70-17, won two league titles and came within a victory of reaching the 1A Eastern Regionals three times.

This year, Jones Senior returns seven from last season but its top two returning scorers — junior Ashley Brimmage and senior Qua’Shawnna McKinnon — combined for nearly a nine point-per-game average last season according to stats at Maxpreps.com.

“As far as scoring, you’re looking at a total of about 10 points off of last year’s squad coming back. So we’ve got to have someone step up at the scoring position,” Philyaw said.

Only a few played significant minutes last year so Philyaw expects there to be a learning curve.

The Trojans also have four freshmen on the roster this year.

“These are the young ladies that return off of last year’s team. Three or four of them have, you know, some quality minutes in games from last season,” Philyaw said.

“We’ll be running the same offense and defense that we’ve been running. Basically, we’re just having to break everything down and just look at skill, skill, skill,” the longtime coach added. “They have to be refined because on this year’s squad I’ve got four freshmen … and you’re looking at putting a possible ninth grader on the floor against a senior in high school. There’s going to be quite a bit of skill-level difference for the most part, so we really have stressed the fundamentals, the basics, and I will continue to do that for, probably a while.”

Although Jones Senior is the defending league champ, Philyaw, who said she thinks Lejeune is the favorite to win the league this year, isn’t so much worried about a repeat as she is developing a team that is built around youth and chemistry.

To do that, the Jones County native and school alum will do the same thing she’s done since 1986.

“These kids know that they’re wearing the name Jones Senior. First of all that’s a lot of pride, and they know they have some big shoes to fill. We will go into this season challenging each one of these young ladies to step up. I expect these young ladies to develop some chemistry, hopefully, early on. We’re going to be OK,” Philyaw said.

“We’re going to approach it like any other season. We never would take less than what all you can give from them. We expect 100 percent 100 percent of the time. Whether we’ll be successful all the time or not? Hey, we don’t know. But we’re going to give it our all every game.”

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.